Thankful Fiber Day

I just wanted to show off one of my new towels in use. Check it out--behind the pie, hanging on the stove is Ryoko's towel. And just so you know, Phyllis' towel is in use right now too. It's the perfect size for my guest bathroom! Thank you both for your wonderful towels!














Instead of shopping today, I'm home feasting in fibery goodness! These are three rovings I dyed recently. The aqua-blues are probably going to find their way to my etsy shop, but the sunshine orange and yellow may just be mine!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Thank you for all the day to day good things you do!

Yetsy Treasury

There is a new "Street Team" on Etsy (a great place to buy and sell handmade items). We are "Yetsy" and we are fiber fanatics!

Searching for wool to spin? Yarn to knit? Type in "yetsy" in the search bar at etsy.

And, to top it all off, that's my ball of purple roving in the treasury! Woo-hoo! I am so amazed and excited! Come and see:

www.etsy.com/ treasury_list.php?room_id=16020

My etsy shop (also in the side bar) is fibertwist.etsy.com

Thanks to northstaralpacas.etsy.com for choosing one of my rovings for the treasury!

Towel Exchange Results!

Oh, I was a happy camper on Friday! Not only did I get to attend the guild meeting, but my children were wonderfully well behaved, and I got two beautiful new towels!

The solid blue one was woven by Phyllis Ferrero. The pattern is overall diamonds with a center decoration in each diamond. The picture doesn't to the towel justice!

The blue and natural towel (dish size) was woven by Ryoko Marti and is the structure known as M's and O's. I love it!




Both of these towels are going to be used this weekend--the diamond towel in the guest bathroom and the M's&O's in the kitchen! I can't wait to show off the work of my friends!



This little red and white piece is a bit of tape that I am weaving from sewing thread. I have never woven with threads so fine. It was a challenge to thread the heddles in my little loom because the thread was so fine I had a hard time seeing it to keep track of my position! If all goes well this pretty little tape may get used for holiday creations. If not, I still like it. Perhaps it could be hair ribbons or shoe laces!

Beginning, Middle, & End (in one post!)

My weaving guild (Wabash Weavers) is having a towel exchange on Friday. I got them on and off the loom this week --and they are marvelous! But it was an interesting challenge to limit my project to a manageable size.

The yarn is 10/2 cotton (unmercerized) in a white and a two-tone blue. Most of the threading is a point twill, with a section near each edge of straight twill threading. The threads are sett at 30 ends per inch, or three per dent in a 10 dent reed.



I had a hard time making decisions about these towels. The only thing I knew I wanted was "decent sized towels". I ran my calculations to give my 20"x 30" towels, and I was really pleased to see how close they ended up to those dimensions!

Towel #1 is plainweave with two colors to make a checkered pattern. The weft didn't pack as tightly as I expected, but it still looks nice. Towel #2 is waffle weave with a single color (white) weft. I loved running my fingers over the towel as I wove! I could feel where the waffle edges were going to be!

Here's a photo of the two towels. They have been wet finished and ironed (don't tell anyone that I ironed!). I had enough warp left to make two sample pieces--one in plain weave and one in waffle weave. The waffle weave piece is now a washcloth and the plain weave is an eyeglass case. :)

I love the feel of these fabrics! I can't wait to make more with the 10/2 cotton I have!

Cat Bed

Our poor kitty needed his own bed. He's been kicked off the woodstove (his favorite summer hangout) and we didn't have another spot just for him.

My oldest (age7) sewed the center circle and stuffed it with half-felted wool for me. The outer ring is just a gathered rectangle--stuffed with old knitting swatches that I'll never use otherwise!

I don't know if the cat has used this yet, but at least it's his!

Tension Issues

I enjoy reading the weaving blog of Bonnie Tarses (weavingspirit.blogspot.com). One of the things she comments on is the fact that weaving is a process of making mistakes and learning from them.

This is my latest warping mistake. (My last one was not blogged--I let extra dummy warp threads wrap around the back apron bar and the bar couldn't advance more than an inch off the beam.) This time, I tucked the extra dummy warp threads under the back apron. Voila! Now they can't wrap around the beam!

Do you see the problem here? The warp threads under the back apron created a "bubble" on one side of the back beam. I saw the bubble, but thought that since the warp wound on smoothly that all would weave well. Ha! The bubble made one side of the warp longer than the other and as I wove, the tension on my fabric loosened--but only on the left, the side where the bubble was on the warp beam.



I came up with a "non-elegant" solution. I inserted pencils and other smooth objects into the fabric wrapping on the front apron. This helped take care of some of the tensioning difference across the piece.

The final fabric still has some horizontal tracking (even after washing), but it will work ok for it's intended purpose.